Donna Cournoyer

Summer Reading Series: Non-Fiction

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore

My annual personal knowledge project, beginning around Independence Day, is to read a substantive work focused on US history.

Presidential biographies and early American history are a recurring favorite and occupy significant space on my bookshelves, from the likes of Chernow, McCullough, and Philbrick. While all learned men and accomplished authors, I acknowledge that Ron, David and Nathaniel may be interpreting history through lenses that might reveal similar perspectives.

This year I’ve decided to branch out and, for starters, choose an author born in the second half of the 20^th century. I landed on These Truths, written by Harvard professor Jill Lepore. The author takes on the herculean task of writing a history of the United States, from 1492 to present day.

In her introduction, Lepore tells the story of how the US Constitution was circulated before being put to the vote, and how the essential question posed anonymously by Alexander Hamilton in the first essay of the Federalist Papers, was: shall we be ruled by reason and choice, or shall we be ruled by violence and force?

Lepore contends that this is the question of American history and remains as pertinent and important today as it was in 1787. And although there is a great deal of anguish in American history, Lepore finds “an extraordinary amount of decency and hope, of prosperity and ambition, of invention and beauty.”

I suspect it will take the better part of the summer for me to digest the 900+ pages of Lepore’s work. But in a shift from my usual summer read of focused biography, I’m looking forward to experiencing her interpretative, wide-scope, fresh-perspective narrative.

-Rob

Summer Reading Series: Non-Fiction

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

As a lifelong New Englander, and an avid hiker in my early twenties (a fraction of what time I expected my hiking experience would be), I have always been amazed by all of nature around us.

Although my love for the ocean competes with the mountains of New England, I find myself drawn to stories of wilderness experiences in the mountains.

Bill Bryson takes us through the fascinating history of the Appalachian Trail, along with some forestry history, as he tells the tale of a quintessential story of two men, not exactly at peak fitness, and far past twenty, as they head out to take on the arduous task of hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Bryson brings a laugh out loud sense of humor with his writing, and weaves in a balance of environmental awareness at perfect intervals throughout the story. This is balanced with detailed accounts of the angst and emotions of human beings as he and his companion face the real perils of the wilderness.

So, as we near the middle of hiking season in New England, if you are looking to get inspired to experience some of the unexpected, challenging, and life-changing adventures of hiking all or any of the 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail that traverses an area from Georgia to Maine, Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is a must read for summer.

Or, it may even make your daily walk, or a local hike, seem like a walk in the park, and you can live the experience of the AT vicariously through Bryson’s brilliant account of his own experiences.

-Donna

Summer Reading Series: Non-Fiction

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris

Harris was an ABC reporter, and sometime host of Nightline, who had a panic attack on national television while reporting on Good Morning America.

The first part of this book is an entertaining story of how he searched his way through various paths in spirituality and self-help to try to get control.

10% Happier takes readers through his explorations of neuroscience and other disciplines that led him to a meditation practice that provides him with calm, focus, and a little more happiness.

-Susan

Summer Reading Series: Fiction

The Long Walk by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)

I am a lazy reader – if I don’t like a book within the first ten pages, I won’t flip to the eleventh. This was most certainly not the case for The Long Walk, as I turned to the last page the same day I turned the first.

The visceral elegance of King’s prose leaves the reader feeling as if they are a fly on the wall, observing every horrifying detail of each character. Set in a dystopian future in Maine, 100 teenage boys embark on a walk down Route 1; if they walk too slow or stop, they are gruesomely removed from the contest.

The last walker standing wins a considerable amount of money and a prize of his choice. Sure, the premise of the walk itself is compelling, but the real story lies in the interactions of the boys. Though a perhaps on-the-nose metaphor for the true cost of sacrifice to get ahead in an ever-competitive world, The Long Walk is an intriguing read.

-Greg

Summer Reading Series: Fiction

The Passage by Justin Cronin

As a high-schooler, I discovered the writing of Stephen King. I have a distinct memory of a summer in the mid-1980s, where I worked evening shifts, would often return home after midnight, and read The Stand through the dark hours until dawn. Consuming what at the time may have been considered King’s masterwork was made particularly memorable because of my weeks-long, vampire-like existence.

Now deep into middle age, I’ve been drawn in by a King-like author who writes about vampires. Justin Cronin has created a science-experiment-gone-wrong, post-apocalyptic world where an engineered virus nearly wipes out humanity. The unleashed walking dead are far more treacherous (and intriguing) than zombies.

The Passage was written in 2010 (the first of a trilogy) but the subject matter manages to tap into abeyant concerns of today’s post-pandemic reality. While the plot itself is absorbing (and wonderfully haunting), the masterful writing delights. At various points, characters debate the reasons for persisting in a seemingly forsaken world. How apropos.

-Rob

Summer Reading Series: Fiction

North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason

I often find myself thinking about life and our earth on a large scale. Where do we as humans fit in with the incomprehensible and fleeting passage of time? What is my individual relationship with this world and what impact am I having on our planet? But then again, I am a dreamer.

In North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason, we are taken through passages of time that involve centuries, in a western Massachusetts town. The history of the inhabitants of a cabin and what becomes of the land and home is revealed over time.

Mason’s writing has a kind of magical quality which pulls you in with details of nature and wildlife and invokes a sense of wonder about small moments in time as well as vast passages of time, dispersed with some humor as well.

Through introspection, Mason examines the depths of life, love, and transgressions through the portrayal of the spirits of the inhabitants of the land (including a cougar). The mystical aspect of his story will take you to another world – a great story for a summer read.

-Donna

Summer Reading Series: Fiction

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride

Chicken Hill is a run-down neighborhood of Jews and African Americans in Pottstown, PA. This is a rich, compassionate story of characters whose lives intertwine.

The story revolves around two key dramas: the institutionalization of a deaf boy in a home for the mentally ill, and the discovery of a skeleton at the bottom of a well. The author weaves a story that shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

-Susan